ME-207 Thermodynamics-II

Exergy
(Lecture # 10,11)
TEXT BOOK: CHAPTER 8 (8.1, 8.2)

Instructor : Dr. Tariq Amin Khan

Learning Objectives
• Introduction to Exergy
• Exergy change of a System

Slide 2
Introduction to Exergy

 It would be very desirable to have a property to enable us to

determine the useful work potential of a given amount of
energy at some specified state.
 This property is exergy, which is also called the availability or
available energy.
 It is simply the maximum useful work that can be obtained
from the system.

Slide 3
Introduction to Exergy
 In exergy (work potential), irreversibility is disregarded, and
the system must be in the dead state (equilibrium with
environment) at the end of the process to maximize the work
output.
 The properties of a system at the dead state are denoted by
subscript zero, for example, P0, T0, h0, u0, and s0.
 Unless specified otherwise, the dead-state temperature and
pressure are taken to be T0 = 25°C (77°F) and P0 = 1 atm
(101.325 kPa or 14.7 psia). A system has zero exergy at the
dead state.

Slide 4
Introduction to Exergy

Slide 5
Introduction to Exergy
 Note that the exergy of a system at a specified state depends on
the conditions of the environment (the dead state) as well as
the properties of the system.
 Therefore, exergy is a property of the system–environment
combination and not of the system alone.
 It is important to realize that exergy does not represent the
amount of work that a work-producing device will actually
deliver upon installation.
 Rather, it represents the upper limit on the amount of work a
device can deliver without violating any thermodynamic laws.

Slide 6
Exergy Associated with Kinetic and Potential Energy

 Kinetic energy and potential energy are forms of

mechanical energy, and thus it can be converted to work
entirely.
 Therefore, the work potential or exergy
of the kinetic and potential energies of a
system is equal to the kinetic energy and
potential energy itself regardless of the
temperature and pressure of the
environment.

where V is the velocity of the system relative to the environment.

Slide 7
Reversible Work And irreversibility

 In actual engineering systems, the assumption of

final state as dead state is hardly ever achieved.
 The reversibility and irreversibility (or exergy
destruction) in these components are valuable tool
in thermodynamic analysis.

Slide 8
Surroundings work
 The work done by work-producing devices is not always
entirely in a usable form.

 This work, which cannot be recovered

and utilized for any useful purpose

 The difference between the actual

work W and the surroundings work
Wsurr is called the useful work Wu :

Slide 9
Surroundings work

Slide 10
Reversible work
 When the final state is the dead state, the reversible work equals
exergy. For processes that require work, reversible work
represents the minimum amount of work necessary to carry out
that process.

 Any difference between the reversible work Wrev and the useful
work Wu is due to the irreversibilities present during the process,
and this difference is called irreversibility I. It is expressed as

Slide 11
EXERGY CHANGE OF A SYSTEM

 Exergy is a combination property (System and environment)

 The exergy of a system that is in equilibrium with its
environment is zero.
 we limit the discussion to thermo-mechanical exergy and thus
disregard any mixing and chemical reactions. The internal energy
can be considered to consist of only sensible and latent energies.

 Therefore, a system at this “restricted dead state” is at the

temperature and pressure of the environment, and it has no
kinetic or potential energies relative to the environment.

Slide 12
EXERGY CHANGE OF A SYSTEM

 The second law of thermodynamics states that heat cannot

be converted to work entirely, and thus the work potential of
internal energy must be less than the internal energy itself.
But how much less?

Slide 13
EXERGY CHANGE OF A CLOSED SYSTEM
 Consider a stationary closed system at a specified state that
undergoes a reversible process to the state of the environment.
 The useful work delivered during this process is the exergy of the
system at its initial state
 Consider a piston–cylinder device that
contains a fluid of mass m at
temperature T and pressure P. The
system has a volume V, internal energy
U, and entropy S. The system is now
allowed to undergo a differential
change of state during which the
volume changes by a differential
amount dV and heat is transferred in the
differential amount of δQ.
Slide 14
EXERGY CHANGE OF A CLOSED SYSTEM

 The energy balance for the system during this differential

process can be expressed as

(8.12)
 since the only form of energy the system contains is internal
energy, and the only forms of energy transfer a fixed mass can
involve are heat and work.
 Any useful work delivered by a piston–cylinder device is due
to the pressure above the atmospheric level. Therefore, total
work is summation of useful and surrounding work.

Slide 15
EXERGY CHANGE OF A CLOSED SYSTEM

 The differential work produced by the heat engine as a result

of this heat transfer is

Slide 16
EXERGY CHANGE OF A Closed SYSTEM
 Integrating from the given state (no subscript) to the dead state
(0 subscript) we obtain

where Wtotal useful is the total useful work delivered, which is

exergy by definition.
 A closed system, in general, may possess kinetic and
potential energies, and the total energy of a closed system is
equal to the sum of its internal, kinetic, and potential
energies. The exergy of a closed system of mass m is

Slide 17
EXERGY CHANGE OF A CLOSED SYSTEM

 On a unit mass basis, the closed system (or nonflow) exergy

ϕ is expressed as

 The exergy change of a closed system during a process is

simply the difference between the final and initial exergies of
the system,

 For stationary closed systems, the kinetic and potential

energy terms drop out.
Slide 18
EXERGY CHANGE OF OPEN SYSTEM
 Note that exergy is a property, and the value of a property does
not change unless the state changes.
 Therefore, the exergy change of a system is zero if the state of
the system or the environment does not change during the
process.
 For example, the exergy change of steady-flow devices such as
nozzles, compressors, turbines, pumps, and heat exchangers in a
given environment is zero during steady operation.

Slide 19
EXERGY CHANGE OF OPEN SYSTEM

 The exergy of a closed system is either positive or zero. It is

never negative.

Slide 20
Exergy of a Flow Stream
 A flowing fluid has an additional form of energy, called the flow
energy wflow = Pv
 Noting that the flow work is Pv and the work done against the
atmosphere is P0v, the exergy associated with flow energy can be
expressed as

 Therefore, the exergy associated

with flow energy is obtained by
replacing the pressure P in the flow
work relation with the pressure in
excess of the atmospheric pressure,
P – P0.
Slide 21
Exergy of a Flow Stream

 the exergy of a flow stream is determined by simply adding the

flow exergy relation above to the exergy relation for a
nonflowing fluid,

Slide 22
Conclusion
 Exergy is maximum useful work that can be obtained from
the system.
 Exergy is a property of system-surrounding combination.
 Exergy of the kinetic and potential energies of a system
is equal to the kinetic energy and potential energy itself

Slide 23